Coronavirus diary, Friday 12 February 2021

Looking ahead to when we will be able to visit our favourite holiday destinations, probably not this summer, I foresee a flood of bookings. 

Staycationing, a good alternative, will continue to grow, giving a long awaited boon for the harassed hospitality industry, but the lure of certain hot sunshine around the world will be iresistible.

The industry will literally fly back into life, with fleets of mothballed planes taking to the sky again.

The major aviation companies will within a year or so be earning billions of pounds in profits again, making up for lost time.

Hotels throughout the world will welcome us with open arms.

British travel agents will be busier than ever; they need to be to recoup their loss of staff and money.

Britain has a lot to make up. Visit Britain says inbound tourism visits last year were down by 76% to 9.7 million.

Britain will be facing strong international competition to entice visitors to return.

My involvement in promoting  travel to Wales and Britain included work for  the Wales Tourist Board, the city and county of  Cardiff and Cardiff airport, where I was information and marketing officer for ten years,. 

BACT, the British Association of  Conference Towns carried out international promotions for 70 British resorts.

I was at two international conferences for them, Phoenix and Boston, USA: lavish affairs with more than 6,000 delegates. The host cities spent a fortune on hospitality. They knew it was money well spent as conference guests spend far more than holiday makers.

Flying the flag

I was also a member of EUTO, the European Union of Tourist Officers. Although competitors, we worked together, regularly promoting tourism. Cardiff hosted one of  our annual conferences.

Europe was years ahead of us. Blackpool and Brighton were among the leading British resorts with large tourist staffs but we had to catch up. That involved stands at tourism fairs including the biggest in Europe, Berlin, with 18 show halls. I also took part in ‘British Week’ in cities in Canada and Wales.

In Wales more than 18,000 worked in hospitality, with many of those jobs put at risk by the pandemic. 

So there is a lot to make up, but I am sure millions in Britain and in pandemic stricken countries of the world have not lost their thirst for travelling for business and pleasure,

Better days are ahead for them and for us.